Housing Marking Updates
Rob Breese, VP General Sales Manager
RE/MAX 200 Realty | RE/MAX Town & Country Realty
Early February setback… BOO!!! But the spring market is coming… YAY!! Talking to your clients this week? Of course you are!
In times of uncertainty, people follow the most certain voice. BE THAT VOICE!
Here’s our weekly briefing on all things Real Estate:
- Mortgage rates last week increased in response to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that 517,000 jobs were added in January, a 50-year low of 3.4% unemployment. Much stronger than anticipated and normally good news, yet bad news in inflationary times for the bond market and with the FED. The FED released a statement that interest rate hikes may have to continue for a longer period of time. A 25-basis point hike is expected on March 13. However, real estate economist Barry Habib feels confident that rates will trend downward in the coming spring market as inflationary pressures continue to ease.
- Black Knight released a report that mortgage rate lock-ins rose 64% in January, the sharpest rise in five years. They also reported home prices peaked, according to their data, in June 2022. Home prices fell 5.2% in 2022 after the June peak.
- Core Logic released a report agreeing that the market peaked in June 2022, but home price growth fell only 3% for the remainder of 2022. They also reported that January showed a quite respectable 6.9% YOY in January 2023.
- Altos Data Research reported that there is surprising demand in January & early February, including home price resiliency and supply staying restricted. Altos also reported that the housing market is short 5.2 million homes for the foreseeable future. Available inventory of homes for sale dropped big last week. Altos’ models assumed inventory would bottom in January and climb by 1-2% weekly by now but it’s not happening! Inventory fell by 3% last week.
- KCM reported that 67% of Americans believe a housing crash will occur, pushing home sale prices down substantially. They pointed out the decreasing home inventory levels, reporting that both December & January saw listings reduced both months.
- NAR reports the 6 top reasons listings are lingering on the market are:
- Bad photos with poor light, clutter, low resolution, or need staging.
- Illogical MLS photo order—house photos should be in order of the way you walk through the home.
- Underwhelming property descriptions with too much “puffery.” Concentrate on key, high-value features of homes & the area. Use bullet points!
- Poor curb appeal. The buyer will judge the home by the first impression.
- Unique floor plan. Meaning, the home is much less desirable to a large portion of buyers.
- OPTIMISTIC PRICING is the number one reason a home will linger on the market!
